Monkey island - first time

[Mencken]

So I died three times in a row tried to fight the monkeys impossible and couldn't find any bananas generated or what not. If I dig up a banana plant do I get a banana?   It's pretty hard to give one without a monkey following me.

[Captain_Rage]

Try getting raided by monkeys at sea, dying on the Pirate Sloop and having the Prime Mate rowing off with your corpse and ghost at ludicruous speed when playing alone. xd

The first encounter and raid went alright, since I had filled the boat to the brim with tooth traps, but the second raid was a completely different story.

Looks like the monkeys will try to snatch any bananas off the bushes. They drop their loot once killed, which is one way of obtaining bananas. The portal on the island spits out banana bushes sporadically that you can plan in locations of your choosing (and stack up on bananas in your base for example before revisiting the island).

[Rylanor]

Best way to explore the island as for me is to kill 10 monkeys, become Wonkey and just collect everything interesting. Then afterwards give bananas you collected from strange portal/island itself to Monkey Queen and return quickly to the ship. If you struggle with monkeys tank them with ice amulet to freeze them and pick each other separately or use any possible AoE weapon

[xxXolot]

I would recommend bring some torch / fire staff to clean up all monkey huts the first time you set foot on the island. One hut at a time and kill all monkeys in between so you don't get overwhelmed, this will make collecting portal drop / banana on the island much easier since monkeys grab them on sight, and it will stop the island from littering with so much trinket, bandana and cutless. You would only have to deal with a couple monkey from the portal every time afterward.

Obviously bring some armor / a beefalo for this strategy. 

[Evelo]

What I do is I first discover the island's location then leave. I head underground and gather as many bananas as I can and return that way I save time instead of just sitting on an empty island waiting for bananas to grow.
As for clearing out the island, what xxXolot said, Burn the huts! It makes all the monkeys inside disperse. The loot the hut gives hammered unburt vs burt is no different, 1 stone 1 plank. Sometimes the monkeys go back inside the burnt huts thus disappearing from reality. Another alternative is if you know you are going to the island bring some gun powder and blow up the docks that connect to the landmass. That will cause a chain reaction and destroy everything on the dock.
If you can bring a dark sword, the monkeys die in 3 hits from it as opposed to other weapons. Best of luck.

[Mencken]

Thanks, great tips.   So off to the ruins for bananas.   And a fire staff when I go back.    Fighting them was unlike anything else I ever experienced they literally take your helmet and armor off.   

[Evelo]

1 minute ago, Mencken said:

Thanks, great tips.   So off to the ruins for bananas.   And a fire staff when I go back.    Fighting them was unlike anything else I ever experienced they literally take your helmet and armor off.   

Oh yea, equip a lot of "junk" items in your inventory to the far left. Examples being Rocks, Twigs, Grass etc. They steal inventory items 1 by 1 from left to right so that'll give you a buffer.

[Captain_Rage]

According to Youtube and the wiki the monkeys stay indoors at night and during the whole winter. That sounds like a good alternative for visiting the Moon Quay if you want a safe passage without having to demolish their habitats.

Also, if you manage to gift their matriach a banana it seems to yield a grace period of a few minutes where the monkeys become neutral to you (not 100% sure how it works or if it only applies when the curse is lifted or in general).

[ArubaroBeefalo]

24 minutes ago, Mencken said:

Thanks, great tips.   So off to the ruins for bananas.   And a fire staff when I go back.    Fighting them was unlike anything else I ever experienced they literally take your helmet and armor off.   

put something like twigs in the 1st slot so you wont suffer from the stealing perk

[Yuuko]

Definitely make a run to the caves for some bananas ahead of time.  They help with the raids too b/c the powder monkeys will take 1 banana and go, so you just drop a few bananas on deck and they leave quickly without issue.  Once you hit the island make a b-line for the queen to deliver a banana and you're good.

I suggest having a boat with basically nothing on it, and empty pockets to hold the loot you will take from the island.  While the monkeys won't mess with *you* after you give the queen a banana, they will steal from your boat still lol

 

[kiwikenobi]

7 hours ago, Captain_Rage said:

monkeys stay indoors at night and during the whole winter

Didn't know that about winter, now I know when I'll be going to the Moon Quay exclusively from now on.

[BeeClops]

have something you have many of like twigs/grass in your first inventory slot, so you don't have to worry about stealing your items. Also the bananas on the island will grow if you hang around long enough, and no you won't get a banana by digging them up before fully grown. This is for stumbling upon it which I think is reasonable enough to manage, but it will always be a safer alternative to locate it, get bananas and then visit it safely. 

[Pig Princess]

To bring all desired loot with me and avoid monkeys messing with my boat/being stuck with me on it once I leave I usually create empty boat that works like a buffer between main boat and island.

Another thing I do is wall up banana as bait, which ensures monkey go for it first instead of other loot from unnatural portal or my inventory. That helps to kill them one by one as well since those trying to steal banana ignore everything else as long as they themselves are not attacked.

Monkeys also don't steal from ice boxes and backpacks, so one could use those to store loot.

Only 1 pirate stash can be on the map at the same time and it is being updated even after player discovered it (read map), which means that one can discover it, let monkeys put any items there (give bananas to pirates, let monkeys to enter their huts) and then just dig it. Moreover, any perishable item stops it's spoilage after being placed in pirate stash, so one can take as much time as needed before digging it. Bananas from pirate raids also appear to be there, so technically one doesn't loose anything by paying them.

Also I once managed to sink them mid-jump (so they dropped bandanas and swords but didn't drop trinkets), but I need to investigate exact conditions before giving it as advice (it might be worth doing if too much of them are chasing player to loose their aggro). But it is definitely possible, so I'm mentioning it there in case someone has more information about it.